'Clogging' of wastewater in the resettlement area of ​​Cau Den project

The shortcomings

It is known that the project to relocate people in the disaster-prone landslide area of ​​Hung Loi commune was approved by the People's Committee of Nghe An province in 2008, with the Department of Rural Development as the investor, and the infrastructure construction includes 2 areas:Black Bridge1, Black Bridge 2.

The investor has implemented the construction of basic infrastructure items such as: roads, drainage ditches, electricity, land leveling and connection points for domestic water systems. The project has completed settlement and been handed over for use.

People's demand for higher house foundations, drainage ditches and clean water pipes is deep underground. Photo: GH

However, according to Mr. Phan Huu Dao - Chairman of Hung Loi Commune People's Committee: The resettlement area has a total of 126 households, from 2009 until now, basically all the people have lived there, only about 13 vacant lots remain. When handed over to the locality, the basic infrastructure was completed but the initial design was low, after the big flood in 2010, the people's need to build houses had to raise the ground, the drainage ditch and clean water pipes were so deep that the water could not reach.

Besides, when implementing the project, they only invested in the area where the project was approved, but there was no drainage system from the project to the river and canal, and the surrounding area was people's production land. The commune did not have a source of funding for site clearance. This issue was raised by the people many times through meetings with voters of People's Council delegates at all levels.

Currently, households have electricity (purchased from Hung Nguyen electricity company) and clean water (tap water connected from Vinh city). The cost of connecting electricity and water is paid by the households themselves. The most difficult problem is still the common wastewater drainage ditch.

Due to the lack of a common drainage ditch, domestic wastewater from resettled residents of the Cau Den project is discharged directly into people's fields. Photo: GH

Taking us to see the current situation in the Cau Den 1 and Cau Den 2 resettlement areas, Ms. Trinh Thi Van - Head of Hamlet 6, said: Before the hamlet merger, there were two petitions. One was from the resettled people in the old hamlets 6 and 7 about the problem of the wastewater system not being guaranteed. The other was from the people with fields in Hamlet 8 about the resettlement of the Cau Den 1 and Cau Den 2 project discharging wastewater directly into the fields, causing environmental pollution, forcing many households to abandon their fields due to ineffective production.

Now that hamlets 6, 7, and 8 have merged into hamlet 6, the problem of drainage and pollution of production land has become a common problem for the hamlet. "Recently, the commune has come to determine the boundary to build a wastewater drainage system. The people hope to do it, so they contribute to build an internal branch system to connect to the common wastewater system, but it has not been done yet because it is related to land acquisition with red books (64 rice fields of the people)" - Ms. Van said.

In 2020, receiving voters' feedback, on September 25, 2020, Hung Nguyen District People's Committee, together with Hung Loi Commune People's Committee, conducted a field inspection of the two resettlement areas Cau Den 1 and Cau Den 2.

Through inspection, it was found that: At Cau Den 1 project, the domestic wastewater drainage system has many shortcomings because the project has not yet calculated the amount of domestic wastewater as well as the changes in terrain after households have lived, leading to the current time when households live with too much wastewater while the settling tank system is too small.

Some drainage ditches do not have a collection system to be brought to the manhole but are discharged directly onto people's production land, affecting production. This problem has existed for many years.

Domestic wastewater from resettled people in the Cau Den 2 Project is discharged into people's fields, affecting production and polluting the environment. Photo: GH

At Cau Den 2 project, there are also problems with wastewater drainage ditches. Some sections of the domestic wastewater drainage ditches do not have a system of ditches to collect wastewater into manholes, but instead discharge it directly into the fields, affecting the production of nearby households (currently, households with production fields have poured concrete across the domestic wastewater drainage ditches that discharge directly into their production land, so when it rains, the water stagnates and cannot drain).

Based on the above reality, on September 28, 2020, the People's Committee of Hung Nguyen district issued Official Dispatch No. 1321/UBND - TNMT.NN in response to the voters' petition, stating clearly: The People's Committee of Hung Nguyen district directed the People's Committee of Hung Loi commune to organize a meeting with the hamlet executive committee and related households to develop a plan to ensure that water drainage does not affect production land as well as the environment. Regarding the petition of having difficulty in using clean water - the People's Committee of Hung Loi commune was assigned to work with Nghe An Water Supply Joint Stock Company to clearly identify the responsibilities of the relevant parties to respond to the households.

Still stuck

Receiving voters' recommendations before the 15th Session, the 17th Provincial People's Council and the Provincial People's Committee directed the People's Committee of Hung Nguyen district to implement the following contents:

- For the Black Bridge 1 project: Organize a meeting with the people, plan to build a drainage ditch, clear the land in the planning area to build a drainage ditch. Currently, steps are being taken to build a drainage ditch for this area.

- For the Cau Den 2 project: To solve the wastewater problem, it is necessary to have land to build drainage ditches and centralized manholes, however, the remaining land fund belonging to the current project is no longer available. The Provincial People's Committee will direct the Hung Nguyen District People's Committee to continue researching and have a treatment plan for households.

Hamlet 6 chief and cadastral officers of Hung Loi commune inspect the current situation. Photo: GH

According to the Chairman of the People's Committee of Hung Loi Commune, Mr. Phan Sy Dao: Currently, the clean water problem has basically stabilized, but the drainage ditch problem cannot be implemented due to lack of funding and also not knowing where to drain because of the people's fields, the commune does not have enough authority and funding for compensation for site clearance.

Mr. Tran Dinh Hoa - a cadastral officer of Hung Loi commune also said: more than a year ago, the commune came to measure and determine the boundaries, planning to build a concrete ditch connecting to the septic tanks in Cau Den 1 resettlement area about 200m long, and in Cau Den 2, a long concrete ditch connecting to the drainage culvert of the hamlet to Rao Mang river, but the problem is the cost of site clearance.

Through discussion, Mr. Pham Ngoc Cu - Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Hung Nguyen district also said: Currently there are many obstacles, because the surrounding areas are people's fields that need to be cleared, but the commune and district are both facing difficulties in terms of funding and resources, besides that there is also the problem of the planning area in the South of Vinh city...

Many households in the resettlement area have invested in upgrading the drainage system but there is no collection ditch system to connect to. Photo: GH

On the part of resettled people, they expressed their wish to soon receive attention to investing in a drainage system, solving the problem of environmental pollution, and avoiding affecting people's production fields.

Mr. Dau Quoc Viet, 77 years old, in hamlet 6, said: My family has been living here since 2010. Over time, people around have built houses, the septic tank areas containing wastewater have been silted up, and there is no common drainage ditch, it flows into the fields, and in the dry season it smells bad, sometimes unbearable. I just hope that a drainage system will be invested in soon to ensure the environment. People have petitioned many times about this issue, hoping that authorities at all levels and functional sectors will pay attention and resolve it.